The PCMag India list: Best budget smartphones of 2018

By
Sahil Mohan GuptaDec. 21, 2018, 6:57 p.m.

Here are our favorite smartphones for 2018

2018 has been a great year for smartphones. While the smartphone market may be shrinking a bit across the world, India remains hot. What makes India a hot spot is the fact that there are so many people coming online every year.

This makes the budget smartphone category the key driver of sales in India and which is also why the likes of Xiaomi, Honor, Oppo, Vivo and Nokia, amongst others, have been really focused on India. 2018 saw many budget smartphones arrive in India - many new phones which can be earmarked as successors to previous budget champions that came out and conquered. In this list, we share the 5 best budget smartphones of 2018.

Xiaomi Redmi 6 Pro

It shouldn't come as a surprise that the Redmi 6 Pro has taken this title considering, Xiaomi's Redmi Note line has won this year after year since venturing into India. The Redmi Note 6 Pro is an overall improvement of the device in more ways than one. It is the first Redmi Note to have a notched full-screen experience, coupled with a speedy Snapdragon 636 processor and superb cameras that can do battle with some of the best in the business. What's impressive is that it also comes in a slender frame made out of series 7000 aluminium while retaining its legendary battery life. If there were to be a ‘people's phone’, then here we have it, in its latest 2018 avatar.

Poco F1

The newest entrant in this list also comes from Xiaomi's stable. This is a new line of smartphone built by former Android engineer Jai Mani's team which focuses on delivering class-leading performance in a package that's meant for the cutting-edge thirsty. You basically get all the cutting edge tech that you will get in a Rs 40,000 phone for less than Rs 20,000. Yep, everything from the notched display with IR-based face unlock, the best processor from Qualcomm, copious amounts of RAM, a mean dual camera system, killer battery life and even a water cooled chassis for best possible gaming performance. There is one minor compromise which is basically a rather tacky build, which may or may not hold the test of time.

Poco F1

Processor

Qualcomm Snapdragon 845, Up to 2.8 GHz with AIE 845, Adreno 630 GPU

RAM

6 GB/8 GB

Storage

64 GB/128 GB/256 GB

Display

6.18-inch 2246 x 1080 FHD+ display

Battery

4000mAh

Operating System

Android 8.1 Oreo with MIUI

Cameras

12MP + 5MP dual rear camera,

20MP front camera

Price

Rs 21,999

HMD Global Nokia 6.1 Plus

Nokia's phones are just different. They usually forgo the rat race of having the latest and greatest whiz-bang specs, but rather focus on dapper aesthetics, solid all-round performance with a marriage of a tuned Android One experience and high-quality after sales. The Nokia 6.1 Plus is all of the above, but also has hardware that can keep up with the likes of the Xiaomis, but in a more compact form and a sexier frame. If you're looking for something affordable but also sexy, look no further. It has something that Xiaomi doesn't.

Nokia 6.1 Plus

Processor

Qualcomm Snapdragon 636, Octa-core 1.8 GHz, Adreno 508 GPU

RAM

4 GB

Storage

64 GB

Display

5.8-inch 2280 x 1080 FHD display

Battery

3060mAh

Operating System

Android 9 Pie

Cameras

12MP + 5MP dual rear camera,
16MP front camera

Price

Rs 15,999

Asus ZenFone Max Pro M2

Asus has been borrowing a page from Xiaomi's playbook for a while. This is the second year in running that they are doing this and the new M2 goes a step beyond by adding bits of Nokia and Poco too. In terms of pure processing capabilities, this new phone has the chops. It has the Snapdragon 660 system on chip (SoC) at its heart which is a fast and furious cookie. It then also marries a stock Android experience like the Nokia in a package that also has a humongous battery, a killer screen and even the latest fast charging technology. Its main weakness isn't how it looks, because it is quite snazzy with all the bling, but how it feels, which is cheap, because it ain't built out of metal or glass.

ZenFone Max Pro M2

Processor

Qualcomm Snapdragon 660, Up to 1.9 GHz, Adreno 512 GPU

RAM

4 GB

Storage

64 GB

Display

6.26-inch 2280 x 1080 FHD+ display

Battery

5000mAh

Operating System

Android 8.1 Oreo

Cameras

12MP + 5MP dual rear camera,

13MP front camera

Price

Rs 17,990

Xiaomi Redmi 6A

There is a reason Xiaomi commands the smartphone space in India. This list is a good example why as 3 of the best 5 budget smartphones are made by it. The Redmi 6A forgoes a Qualcomm processor for one of the fastest MediaTek processors at a price that's bone dead - less than Rs 10,000. It also packs premium features like face recognition, a fingerprint scanner and squeezes all this in a compact form with killer battery life. If you're upgrading to a 4G-enabled smartphone for the first time, this is the one to get.

About the Author

A fan of the iconic TV series Star Trek since childhood, Sahil Mohan Gupta, was pushed towards writing about technology because of impact of the TV show at a very young age. Sahil, who is known as Bones, in professional and social circles, has been writing about tech for more than 6 years. He has written about everything under the sun; ranging from smartphones, tablets, PCs, videos games, AI to pro audio, music, nightlife, sports and movies. Sahil has worked for some of the most prestigious media houses in India covering technology verticals and has also hosted consumer electronics shows on Indian national television. At PCMag India, he brings his ... See Full Bio